Following their preseason opener on Friday night and a day off on Saturday, the New England Patriots were back to work on Sunday. The final open session of the summer was a lighter but still highly competitive one.

Here is what went down on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.

Attire: Shorts, shoulder pads

Duration: ca. 90 minutes (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)

Conditions: Sunny, temperatures in the mid 80s

Coming off their first game of the year and with a pair of joint practices on the schedule later this week, the Patriots decided to wear only their shoulder pads on Sunday. The practice also featured a heavy focus on the red zone, an area head coach Mike Vrabel was not quite happy about coming out of the Patriots’ 48-18 win over the Commanders.

“We know how critical that is. We didn’t get a stop defensively in the red zone. We did a nice job offensively in the red zone, but defensively it wasn’t very good,” he said prior to practice, seemingly challenging the unit to bounce back. “So, again, we like coming off these days in the red zone. Shorter space for the players, but it’s still a critical area where you need precision and speed, it’s just not maybe long speed.”

Not participating: CB Christian Gonzalez, WR Ja’Lynn Polk, S Josh Minkins, RB Lan Larison, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, WR Kendrick Bourne, LB Elijah Ponder

Returned: LB K’Lavon Chaisson, OL Sidy Sow, OL Caedan Wallace

Departed: OT Marcus Bryant, CB D.J. James, LB Marte Mapu, TE Hunter Henry

In their return to the practice field, New England saw a handful of new non-participants including Ja’Lynn Polk, Josh Minkins, Elijah Ponder and running backs Lan Larison and Rhamondre Stevenson. After wearing a walking boot post game, Larison is expected to land on injured reserve while Mike Vrabel shared that neither Polk nor Christian Gonzalez will practice this week.

New England then saw a handful of players depart Sunday’s session early. Marcus Bryant and D.J. James departed with trainers while Marte Mapu also was spotted in the medical shed and did not return. Hunter Henry left the practice field but did not seem to receive any medical attention.

The Patriots were also joined by a pair of new players. On offense, there was a new No. 30 — potentially running back Demeric Brown — with a No. 55 also participating on the defensive side of the ball.

Defense punches back: As Mike Vrabel pointed out before practice, the Patriots’ defense did not record a red zone stop in the preseason opener. With the focus on that part of the field on Sunday, New England’s defense responded by largely shutting down Drake Maye and the top offense.

In the final period near the goal line, Maye fired three straight incompletions; two of those were broken up by cornerbacks Marcus Jones and Carlton Davis. While Maye’s last pass was caught by Kayshon Boutte for an apparent touchdown, his final one-minute drill from the 45-yard line featured potentially two or three would-be sacks, one bad snap, two incompletions, and then a drop in the end zone from Stefon Diggs on the final play of scrimmage.

It was a decisive win for the defense and an overall sloppy day for Maye and the starting offense.

Secondary report: Participating in his first non-walkthrough of the summer, cornerback Carlton Davis was a staple along the outside and tallied the aforementioned pass breakup in coverage on Kayshon Boutte. He largely played opposite of Alex Austin with Marcus Jones, who was also involved for a pass of pass breakups while blowing up a screen, in the slot.

Following the injury to D.J. James, cornerback Miles Battle was first up to replace him in the rotation. The 6-foot-3 Battle was in the area for an end zone breakup on a Maye target to Mack Hollins near the end of practice.

As for the safety room, New England’s top big nickel look consisted of Jabrill Peppers, Jaylinn Hawkins, and rookie Craig Woodson, who almost had a near pick off of Maye but could not scrape the ball off the ground. Kyle Dugger’s playing time continued to take a hit as he primarily worked with the second unit.

Chism’s climb: Following his strong preseason debut, undrafted wide receiver Efton Chism III continued to make an impact on the practice fields Sunday. After hauling in two touchdowns from Joshua Dobbs in 7-on-7s — including a juke over the middle and short out route — Chism connected again with the QB in full-team work before then making the catch of the day.

With Dobbs lofting a desperation heave into the end zone, Chism boxed out Marcus Jones and went up to high-point the football and make the catch — surviving the ground as he crashed down in the process. It was another highlight reel grab from the 5-foot-10 receiver. It becomes tougher and tougher to envision a final 53-man roster without him.

Kicking competition: For the first time in two weeks, rookie Andy Borregales saw a field goal attempt fail to split the uprights. He ended the day connecting on 3-of-4 attempts. Meanwhile, Parker Romo continued his hot summer going 4-of-4.

The two kickers worked between roughly 33 and 40 yards, with Borregales’ miss being pushed slightly wide left.

Other notes: Stefon Diggs failed to haul in either of his two targets in full team work which featured a bad drop of the final play of the day in the end zone. He did connect with Maye in 7s on a pretty ball near the back right pylon. … The top offensive line remained the same: Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, Garrett Bradbury, Mike Onwenu, Morgan Moses. … Bradbury continued to struggle in 1-on-1s and had a low snap in team work. … With Marcus Bryant leaving, Vederian Lowe (left) and Demontrey Jacobs (right) were the top two reserve tackles. Caedan Wallace then retook his place at backup left guard with Ben Brown at center. … K’Lavon Chaisson picked up where he left off in his return and appeared to beat Will Campbell twice in the final one-minute drive. … Campbell did have two wins against Keion White in 1s, however. … Jared Wilson appeared to go undefeated in his three 1-on-1s. … Khyiris Tonga continues to impress from a pass rush standpoint. … Marcus Cannon and Sebastian Volmer were in attendance.

The Patriots will return to the practice field on Monday before a travel day to Minnesota on Tuesday, where two joint practices are on the schedule prior to preseason game No. 2. Monday’s session on the Gillette Stadium practice fields will begin at 10:15 a.m. ET with the session being open exclusively to the media. A select group of players will then be made available to speak after practice.